Since I first started trading grain futures in 1974, I have lived through a lot of major highs and lows in the grain markets. Several of my long-term customers – some have been with me 30 or more years –…

I have worked with farmers for over 40 years. The vast majority of the time, I enjoy answering the phone and talking about the grain markets. However, late last summer, I had some of the toughest calls ever…

I have worked with farmers for over 40 years. The vast majority of the time, I enjoy answering the phone and talking about the grain markets. However, late last summer, I had some of the toughest calls ever…

This fall, markets responded to record corn and soybean crops in the U.S. That response was cash corn and soybean prices falling to the lowest level since 2009. When cash corn drops below $3 per bushel, it is…

This fall, markets responded to record corn and soybean crops in the U.S.: Cash corn and soybean prices fell to the lowest level since 2009. When corn drops below $3.00 per bushel, it is essential that you…

How low can prices go, and what can make them go back up?I like working with charts, and I have kept hand-drawn charts for over 40 years for corn, soybeans, and wheat. I make continuation charts – daily…

Corn and soybean prices fell dramatically this summer. The combination of larger planted acreage, record yields, and projected record corn and soybean crops weighed heavily on prices. So it was not surprising…

The extreme price moves the last two years have given me two textbook examples of how my three-step risk-management plan works. I learned a lot about margin calls and rolling up put options in 2012. In 2013…

When the corn market dropped under $4.20, the phone rang at least twice per week -- sometimes daily -- with a farmer who said, “I read on the Internet that corn futures would drop below $3.00 per bushel by…

What a difference 19 months can make. In August 2012, corn futures rallied to $8.44 per bushel. Then after two years of global crop problems, farmers in North America and South America had great crops in 2013…

A farmer asked two excellent questions at a marketing seminar last winter. I, along with another instructor, researched the answers. Now they have become part of one of the option classes in the Successful…

U.S. farmers had another challenging crop-production season in 2013. This created a lot of volatility in the spring when planting delays threatened corn yields and in late summer when a drought took its toll…

The long-term grain price cycles I work with and my analysis of grain fundamentals both suggest major lows in the fourth quarter of 2013 or the first quarter of 2014. Let me explain.I have charted and watched…

There are a lot of factors that impact grain prices. The fundamental factors -- the supply and demand of grain -- have always been obvious and easy to understand. For example, when the weather turns hot and…

Before I even started my presentation at a seminar last winter, a young farmer came up to the podium and quietly asked, “How much lower can it go? Will it ever come back?” He was very nervous that day. He…

I use a combination of analytic tools when working on price projections for the year. I study fundamentals, long-term chart cycles, and something called analog years. When I study analog years, I look for…

In the 30-plus years that I have traded corn and soybean futures, I have never seen such bullish and bearish price potential at the same time. It will take a disciplined approach to make the right grain…

The last four years in this column, I have recommended using a three-step risk-management plan for a complete income protection strategy for your farm.December 2013 CBOT CornHere are the three steps that you…

I enjoy teaching at the Lafayette Trading Academy (LTA), where I get the chance to work one-on-one with the farmers who attend. The students, mainly farmers, are anxious to learn more about grain marketing and…

February used to be a good month to take a week or two off, if you were in the grain business. For most of the last three decades, prices would usually grind lower in low-volume range-bound trade. Since 2005…

This was a volatile year for corn and soybean farmers, with corn and soybean prices soaring to new all-time highs. The grain markets went higher, as global demand kept increasing, and we had a drought for…

Corn prices have rallied higher later in the year in the last five years. Shift your new-crop selling from March-June over to April-July. March, which used to be a good selling month, is now usually a time to…

This year challenged everything about marketing I thought I knew. Nothing worked – not hedging ahead, not seasonal selling, not scale-up selling. I wish I had just harvested it and put it in my bin.” This…

My phone rang continually when the grain markets turned sharply higher in early July. The terrible drought dropped 2012 yield and profit prospects for many farmers across the Corn Belt this summer. It was…

As I wrapped up the 2011 cash sales in the last two months, I have focused most of my efforts on fine-tuning my marketing plan for the 2012 crop. I am also working on my 2013 plan and have begun looking at…

I need help with my marketing. Every corn and soybean sale I make has gone against me,” was the first comment from a farmer at a seminar in early April in western Minnesota. He wanted to know how I could…

In the last four years, I have recommended a three-step risk-management plan that suggests: 1. Buying RP crop insurance. (The right policy is a complex decision that you should work with a qualified crop…

It's a long time until you plant the crop in 2013, a longer time until you harvest it, and a still longer time until you have to sell it. You have the 2012 and 2013 weather scares to get December 2013…

I have traded the grain markets for 37 years. The markets have changed dramatically since 2005, and how I now trade and how I approach the grain markets have also changed dramatically. For farmers, the ways…

U.S. corn yields have dropped below the long-term trend line the last two years. Odds of another poor crop in 2012 are very small. A large increase in acres and a good crop could take prices substantially…

Most likely the 2012 corn yield will end up between 145 and 165 bushels per acre. Odds favor a better-than-trendline yield in 2012. And with 95 million acres, we could end with a large crop and lower prices by…

Since May 2011, the projected global ending stocks of wheat have increased by over 800 million bushels. This has dropped global and U.S. wheat prices by over $2 per bushel and pulled corn and bean prices lower…

As harvest wrapped up across the Corn Belt this fall, farmers went in to meet with their accountants, bankers, and tax advisers. Some farmers then went to buy seed, fertilizer, and equipment in order to manage…

This has been a year of records in the corn and soybean markets. Corn went to a record high of $7.99¾, corn futures have traded limit up or limit down a record 35 times this year, and the current USDA…

I conducted a marketing and technology survey with some of the farmers I worked with this spring. I got several questions and had a huge response with a lot of good suggestions.One question was, “What is the…

“Making crop insurance decisions and marketing decisions are a lot harder than they were five years ago when prices were a lot lower.” This was the comment I got from a young lady at a meeting in central…

I have been providing farmers with advice and recommendations for 36 years. The products I offer and how I communicate with farmers have changed dramatically the last five years. How farmers use market…

How can you have a market plan that works for you when commodity funds can run prices dramatically higher than they should go and then lower than you would imagine?
Like this year when corn futures dropped to…

This question was asked by a farmer at a grower meeting in Quincy, Illinois: Can the grain markets keep moving higher right into harvest, when the rest of the U.S. economy is moving lower?
Here was my short…

The combination this year of record demand from China and the worst drought in 1,000 years in Russia has dramatically changed the global grain fundamentals. As a result, wheat futures soared by over $4 per…